Never say never – right? Well – I’ve had a few times when I uttered those words and guess what came back to bite me? Along with a few “I’ll never’s” – there have also been a few things in my life that I just never thought I’d experience – until I had kids. Raising 2 active, crazy boys has brought some new experiences into my life. Here are my Top 5 Things I Never Thought I’d Do… I know normally it’s a ‘Top 10’ list, but these 5 are popping out at me.
5) Own a Mini-van. I'm occasionally reminded by one of my co-workers that I said I would "never" own a mini-van. Well, that was 2 months before our family of 3 took a weekend trip and 3 months before our family of 3 was to become a family of 4. That weekend convinced me we needed a vehicle with more room! So, here we are 9 years later and I'm driving a mini-van. While it is convenient to flip a seat down when I need to load something, my kids are both of the age they can manage car doors without getting bonked on the head. What if we have another child? No worries there – I’d be crying too much to drive anyway. So - I'm ready to be done with the mini-van – except it still works and I have a hard time justifying buying a different car. So it stays - for now.
4) Own a Cat.
I was never a cat person. Give me a horse any day. Next would be a
dog. Cats however, only topped snakes and lizards. Then we visited
my sister - an avid cat lover - and my dear son was infected! It took
about a year for him to wear me down, but he did. Now we have not 1 but 2
lovely cats. They like to sleep on your head. One took a ride in the dryer (boy was that a
scary trip to the vet - but he survived and didn't have any brain damage!). One plays catch and for some strange reason
he likes to drag around exercise bands. They're actually pretty fun to
have around – entertaining and comforting.
I guess I've been converted and I'm now a cat person.3) Own a Trampoline. Danger! Broken Bones! Concussion! - Enter the child with Sensory Processing Disorder - who is calmed by bouncing.... After just 1 trip to the occupational therapist where all he did was bounce and swing, I knew I’d be eating some words – mainly one word – trampoline. Of course, 1 just wasn’t enough - we now have an outside trampoline and a mini indoor trampoline for the winter time. They do the trick to help him reach his fill of sensory input, so I guess I’ll live with it. I still can’t stand to bounce on that thing, though – so I sit back and watch.
2) Tae Kwon Do Black Belt. I tried martial arts once – a long, long time ago. It didn’t really thrill me all that much so I dropped it in favor of college classes (or possibly a boyfriend). Fast forward a few (quite a few) years – I have a very active 2nd grader and I’m told martial arts is a fantastic outlet and teaches self-discipline. After watching my son learn tae kwon do and helping him practice, I thought I’d give it a try. It turned out to be a fun outlet - breaking boards, kicking people (only during sparring) – I even earned my black belt. Then we started playing with weapons – the thought of a nun chuck to the head (inflicted by my own hand) – has dampened my enthusiasm a bit – well that and an aging back. But the back is on the mend, so maybe I’ll start back one of these days.
1) Mountain Climbing! – Now this one NEVER even crossed my mind. Why would it? Who in their right mind would consider pulling a ‘Spiderman’ to climb up the side of a cliff? It’s not that I’m not adventurous – but I don’t have that kind of upper body strength to go pulling myself up there! Little did I know... My son come back from a week at Camp Loll (Boy Scouts) with a climbing bug. We decided to check out a local climbing gym - The Front (www.frontogden.com) – I think the bug may have spread. While I only climbed 3 or 4 times and they were all EASY EASY routes (easy meaning beginner, not that they were easy to accomplish) – it was fun. And guess what – I did have that kind of strength. I think I want to do it again.
What unexpected things have you done?
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